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PAIIPHLETS 


OW 


THE  COUNTRY  CIIURCH 


vol 


A 

Social  Service  Program 
for  the  Parish 


* 


The  Joint  Commission  on  Social 

Service  of  the  Protestant 

Episcopal  Church 


^ 


JOINT  COMMISSION  ON  SOCIAL  SERVICE 

OF  THE 

PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 


Rt.  Rev.  William  Lawrence,  D.D. 

Rt.  Rev.  C.  D.  Williams,  D.D. 

Rt.  Rev.  F.  S.  Spalding,  D.D. 

Rt.  Rev.  C.  P.  Anderson,  D.D . 

Rt.  Rev.  Robert  Strange,  D.D. 

Rev.  Frank  H.  Nelson,  D.D. 

Rev.  Walter  T'.  Sumner 

Rev.  Edward  L.  Parsons,  D.D. 

Rev.  George  Hodges,  D.D. 

Rev.  Samuel  Tyle  r 

Rev.  J.  H.  Melish 
Jacob  Riis  Frederick  Decknatel 

Samuel  Mather  John  M.  Glenn 

GiFFORD  PINCHOT  H.  D.  W.  ENGLISH 

Roland  S.  Morris  Clinton  R.  Woodruff 

W.  Fellowes  Morgan       Jeffrey  Brackett 
Robert  A.  Woods 

Rev.  F.  M.  Crouch,  Field  Secretary 
157  Montague  St.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


A 

Social  Service  Program 
for  the  Parish 


CONTENTS 


Foreword 

A  Social  Service  Program  for  the  Parish 

Appendices 

A:    A   SOCIAL   SERVICE    PROGRAM   FOR  A   PARISH    IN 
AN   INDUSTRIAL    COMMUNITY. 

B:     A   SOCIAL   SERVICE    PROGRAM    FOR   A   PARISH    IN 
AN   AGRICULTURAL   COMMUNITY. 


FOREWORD 

This  pamphlet  is  the  first  of  a  series  on  various 
phases  and  methods  of  social  service  to  be  issued  by 
the  Joint  Commission  on  Social  Service  of  the  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  Church.  It  is  designed  to  suggest  to 
the  parish  minister  how  he  can  put  himself  and  his 
people  in  relation  with  the  total  movement  for  social 
betterment  in  which  not  only  our  own  Church,  but 
other  communions,  are  finding  constantly  fresh  inter- 
est, inspiration  and  opportunity. 

The  program  has  been  made,  it  is  hoped,  reasonably 
comprehensive,  without  at  the  same  time  being  over- 
loaded with  details.  Some  phases  of  the  subject  have, 
from  considerations  of  space,  been  ignored,  and  others 
merely  touched  on;  but  it  is  intended  to  follow  this 
initial  pamphlet  with  others  on  such  topics  as  "The 
Agricultural  Community  and  Its  Problems,"  "The 
Church  and  Organized  Labor,"  "The  Sunday  School 
and  Social  Service,"  "The  Seminaries  and  Social  Serv- 
ice," "Social  Service  for  the  Diocesan  Commissions." 
A  "Bibliography  of  the  Social  Problem"  is  in  prepara- 
tion, and  will  be  issued  shortly. 

With  a  view  to  making  the  use  of  this  initial  Pro- 
gram more  eflFective  and  promoting  helpful  relations 
between  itself  and  parish  ministers,  the  Commission 
invites  the  co-operation — and  suggestions — of  minis- 
ters throughout  the  church  at  large.  All  communica- 
tions should  be  addressed  to  the  Rev.  F.  M.  Crouch, 
Field  Secretary,  157  Montague  Street,  Brooklyn,  New 
York. 


A  SOCIAL  SERVICE  PROQRAM  FOR 
THE  PARISH 

SOCIAL    SERVICE    AND    THE    PARISH 

The  success  of  social  service  work  by  the  church  at 
large  depends  ultimately  upon  the  effort  of  the  indi- 
vidual parish.  Unless  the  minister  of  the  individual 
church  and  his  workers,  men  and  women,  take  a  hand 
in  actual  community  service,  the  efforts  of  larger 
units,  diocesan  or  national  social  service  organiza- 
tions, must  go  largely  for  naught.  In  fact,  a  chief 
effort  of  these  larger  bodies  should  be  to  interest  the 
individual  parish  and  its  minister  in  the  world-wide 
movement  to  improve  conditions  of  life  and  work  for 
men,  women  and  children — to  insure  that  justice  in 
social  and  economic  relationships  without  which  polit- 
ical democracy  is  but  the  shadow  of  a  dream — to  in- 
augurate a  Kingdom  of  God  in  which,  as  the  prophets 
of  Israel  preached,  righteousness  and  justice  shall  go 
hand  in  hand,  in  which  services  and  service  shall  be 
complementary.  A  social  service  league  or  committee 
in  every  parish  is  the  desideratum,  unless  the  work  of 
diocesan  and  national  organizations  is  to  halt  on  one 
foot. 

THE  PARISH  AND  SECULAR  SOCIAL  SERVICE  AGENCIES 

The  moment  we  come  to  a  consideration  of  par- 
ochial social  service,  we  find  that  the  parish  cannot 
stand  by  itself  in  the  effort  to  improve  community 
conditions.  To  do  really  effective  work,  it  must  co- 
operate with  other  religious  agencies  and  with  secular 
agencies  in  a  common  effort  for  the  common  good. 
Social  service  must  be  more  than  interdenominational; 
it  must  be  communal.  "He  who  is  not  against  us  is 
for  us"  may  well  serve  as  the  slogan  of  men  and 
women  in  the  church  who  are  trying  to  do  their  share 
to  inaugurate  the  kingdom  of  justice  and  righteousness 
on  earth. 

Now  the  striking  fact  is  that  thus  far  the  church, 


which  should  be  in  the  van  of  any  effort  at  human 
upHft,  has  lagged  in  the  rear  of  the  contemporary 
social  movement.  The  church,  which  once  assumed, 
and  rightfully  assumed,  leadership  in  ameliorative  or 
curative  work  for  the  ills  of  society,  has  unfortunately 
failed  to  assume  such  leadership  in  the  preventive 
movement  of  our  day — ^the  movement  which  would 
not  merely  succor  him  who  has  fallen  by  the  wayside 
among  thieves,  but  which  would  effectually  see  to  it 
that  no  one  need  fall  among  thieves,  for  the  good  and 
sufficient  reason  that  there  should  be  no  thieves  among 
whom  to  fall.  To  clear  the  Jericho  road  of  robbers 
is,  in  Bishop  William's  phrase,  the  new  version  of 
the  parable  which  is  demanded  by  the  spirit  of  our 
day. 

In  this  contemporary  work  of  social  prevention, 
which  implies  a  gradual  if  not  abrupt  social  reconstruc- 
tion, the  church,  as  we  have  intimated,  has  much  to 
learn  from  the  experience  of  secular  agencies.  What 
are  some  of  these  lessons  ? 

THE   NEED    OF   A    SOCIAL    SERVICE    PROGRAM 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  need  of  a  social  service 
program.  The  church  has  been  floundering  cibout  in 
the  field  of  social  service  because  she  has  not  known 
how  and  where  to  direct  her  efforts.  If  she  would  go 
to  school  to  the  secular  agencies,  she  would  gain  some 
valuable  aid  in  orientating  herself  with  respect  to  the 
whole  work  of  social  uplift.  In  other  words,  a  social 
program  might  be  formulated  from  an  examination  of 
the  phases  of  activity  in  which  our  philanthropic  and 
civic  organizations  are  engaged.  What  are  some  of 
the  things  in  which  these  organizations  are  interested  ? 
It  will  be  instructive  to  tabulate  some  of  them,  more 
or  less  at  random : 

The  Anti-Tuberculosis  Crusade. 

The  Housing  Crusade  (closely  related  to  the  above). 

The  Anti-Vice  Crusade  (for  the  suppression  of 
the  white  slave  traffic  and  the  subsequent  suppression 
of  prostitution). 

The  Anti-Divorce  Crusade  (for  the  purpose  of  se- 
curing Federal  regulation). 

The    Child    Welfare    Crusade     (a    comprehensive 


movement,  including  such  various  phases  as  educa- 
tion, housing,  child  labor,  recreation,  prevention  of 
cruelty,  etc.). 

The  Woman  Movement  (including  woman  labor,  the 
suffrage  crusade,  etc.). 

The  Social  Center  Movement  (an  attempt  to  edu- 
cate community  opinion  by  providing  meeting-places 
and  forums  in  the  public  school  buildings,  etc.). 

The  Movement  for  the  Wider  Use  of  the  "School 
Plant"  (cf.  supra). 

The  Civic  Forward  Movement  (an  effort  to  com- 
bine citizens  and  organizations  of  various  communi- 
ties in  a  concerted  program  of  civic  and  social  prog- 
ress). 

The  Rural  Forward  Movement  (an  attempt  to  pro- 
mote the  prosperity  of  our  agricultural  communities 
by  improving  farming  methods,  business  co-operation 
among  farmers,  and  conditions  of  life  and  work — 
summed  up  in  the  three-fold  formula :  "Better  farm- 
ing, better  business,  better  living"). 

The  Conservation  Movement  (closely  allied  to  the 
above;  aims  at  the  proper  use  of  our  natural  re- 
sources, with  a  view  to  future  as  well  as  present  na- 
tional welfare). 

The  Labor  Movement  (focalized  in  our  great  in- 
dustrial centers  and  often  identified  with  the  larger 
social  movement,  of  which  it  is  merely  a  phase;  in- 
cludes such  problems  as  wages,  conditions  and  hours 
of  employment,  prevention  of  and  compensation  for 
industrial  accidents  and  diseases,  unemployment,  old 
age  insurance,  etc.). 

The  Immigration  Question  (including  such  phases 
as  the  regulation  of  immigration,  the  distribution  of 
immigrants,  the  prevention  of  exploitation  by  un- 
scrupulous contractors,  etc.). 

Some  of  these  interests  are  larger,  some  smaller; 
some  deal  with  one  phase  of  the  total  social  problem, 
some  with  another  phase;  some  approach  the  problem 
from  one  point  of  view,  some  from  a  quite  different 
point  of  view.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  secular  agen- 
cies have  not  yet  co-ordinated  and  correlated  their 
efforts ;  they  are  themselves  working  independently  in 
great  measure,  instead  of  co-operatively.     They  are 


feeling  the  need  of  a  comprehensive  program  on  which 
all  may  come  together.  In  broadest  terms,  such  a 
common  platform  has  been  suggested  in  the  three- 
fold formula:  ''Socialize  the  land,  socialize  the  water, 
socialize  the  air." 

THE  PROGRAM  AND  THE  TWO-FOLD  NATURE  OF  THE 
PROBLEM 

It  seems,  however,  that  such  a  common  program 
may  be  better  indicated  in  social  than  in  natural 
terms.  Instead  of  saying,  "Socialize  land,  water,  air,'* 
let  us  say  "Socialize  the  city,  and  socialize  the  coun- 
try." If  we  will  begin  to  think  in  terms  of  this  two- 
fold division,  our  problem  may  be  simplified.  For,  as 
has  been  pointed  out,  social  service — parochial  social 
service — is  in  reality  community  service.  Now  com- 
munities differ  each  from  its  neighbor ;  no  two  have 
the  same  characteristics.  Yet  there  are,  roughly  speak- 
ing, two  general  types  of  community  in  our  own  day 
— the  industrial  and  the  agricultural  *  To  be  sure, 
there  are  communities  of  a  hybrid  nature,  partaking 
of  the  characteristics  of  both  these  types;  but  for  the 
sake  of  simplicity,  let  us  confine  ourselves  to  the  two 
types  in  order  that  we  may  understand  the  essential 
difference  between  them. 

THE    INDUSTRIAL    COMMUNITY 

What  is  the  fundamental  difference  between  these 
two  types  of  community?  It  is  a  difference  due 
mainly  to  their  respective  economic  bases.  The  in- 
dustrial community  has  grown  up  around  the  factory. 
Now,  the  factory  tends  to  concentration  of  popula- 
tion— the  herding  of  em.ployees,  first  in  miserable 
shacks,  then  in  foul  tenements,  in  the  immediate  vi- 
cinity of  the  shop  which  gives  them  v/ork.f    Multiply 

•The  terms  industrial  and  agricultural  are,  in  this  connection,  to 
be  preferred  to  the  terms  urban  and  rural  or  any  other  terms  which 
contrast  the  city  with  the  country  without  recognizing  the  economic 
conditions  which,  on  the  whole,  differentiate  the  city  from  the  country. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  many  so-called  rural  communities  are  industrial 
rather  than  aprricultural.  Some  of  our  smaller  mill-towns,  for  instance, 
present  on  a  lesser  scale  the  problems  which  confront  the  great  manu- 
facturing city.  In  the  following  discussion,  then,  the  distinction  is 
made  between  industrial  and  agricultural  communities  rather  than 
between  urban  and  rural. 

t  An  exaggerated  instance  of  such  industrial  concentration  is  the 
"company  town."  where  the  "workers"  live  in  uniformly  unsightly  and 
insanitary  shacks  and  dn  t'lPiV  trading  at  the  "company  store,"  owned 
and  operated  by  their  employers. 

10 


factories  in  restricted  areas,  as  is  the  usual  case  in  our 
industrial  centers,  and  you  multiply  centers  of  con- 
gestion— the  overcrowding  of  population  from  which 
spring  some  of  the  most  serious  evils  of  our  manu- 
facturing communities.  To  be  sure,  the  modern  city 
has,  in  many  cases,  attempted  to  mitigate  extreme 
congestion  by  improving  housing  conditions  and  facil- 
ities for  transportation.  Nor  should  all  the  manifold 
ills  which  beset  the  life  of  the  typical  industrial  com- 
munity be  charged  to  this  single  cause  of  overcrowd- 
ing. The  fact  remains,  however,  that  in  a  densely 
built-up  manufacturing  center  certain  well- recognized 
evil  consequences  will  be  found  which  do  not  arise 
in  an  agricultural  community  where,  from  the  very 
nature  of  the  case,  people  are  not  compelled  to  rub 
elbows  as  they  are  compelled  to  under  urban  condi- 
tions. The  sickness,  vice,  and  intemperance  which 
cause  so  large  a  part  of  the  misery  from  which  under 
present  conditions  our  industrial  population  cannot 
hope  to  escape  are  largely  due,  directly  or  indirectly, 
to  the  huddling  of  sections  of  that  population  about  the 
factories  which  give  them  employment.  This  con- 
centration and  other  causes  traceable  to  urban  con- 
ditions prevent  the  individual  initiative  and  personal 
freedom  of  movement  indispensable  to  the  best  social 
results.* 

THE   AGRICULTURAL   COMMUNITY 

The  problem  of  the  agricultural  community,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  the  problem  of  isolation — segregation 
of  population.  To  make  a  living  by  farming  a  man 
requires  some  space.  Moreover,  the  nature  of  his 
vocation  has,  till  quite  recently,  made  him  largely 
independent  of  his  fellows,  so  far  at  least  as  the  actual 
process  of  production  is  concerned.  Given  one  or 
two  or  three  farm-hands,  the  farmer  could  wrest  a 
living  for  himself  and  them  from  the  soil,  with  little 
contact  or  co-operation  with  other  farmers.*  Self- 
sufficiency  and  lack  of  co-operation  have  hampered  the 

•  The  ills  of  the  industrial  community,  especially  of  the  large  city, 
are  due  partly  to  the  great  proportion  of  aliens,  in  large  degree  recent 
immigrants,  whose  ignorance  of  American  standards  and  American 
business  methods  makes  them  easy  victims  of  commercial  exploitation. 
The  education  of  these  people  to  a  higher  and  wider  sense  of  their 
rights  and  duties  in  a  modern  democracy  is  one  of  the  fundamental 
needs  of  our  country  to-day. 

11 


normal  development  of  agricultural  society,  though  at 
the  same  time  the  environment  of  rural  life  has  saved 
its  followers  from  many  of  the  evils  that  beset  the 
city.  The  rural  problem  may,  in  short,  be  defined, 
according  to  President  Butterfield,  as  the  problem  of 
maintaining  on  our  soil  a  population  which  shall  not 
only  supply  the  nation  with  its  food  and  raw  materials 
of  industry,  but  also  measure  up  to  the  level  of  our 
American  civilization  and  standard  of  living,  individual 
and  social — a  standard  which  shall  make  adequate 
provision  for  development  of  body,  mind  and  spirit.* 
The  farmer  is  not  only  a  food-supplier :  he  is  a  citizen 
of  this  nation,  and  should  be  a  citizen  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven. 

FURTHER     DIFFERENCE     BETWEEN     THE     TWO     TYPES     OF 
COMMUNITY;   THEIR   RELATION 

The  two  types  of  community — industrial  and  agri- 
cultural— are  therefore  different  in  that  one  tends  to 
concentration  of  population,  and  the  other  to  segrega- 
tion of  population.  But  there  is  a  further  difference, 
related  to  the  above.  The  industrial  or  labor  problem, 
as  we  see  it  to-day,  is  chiefly  a  city  problem — focal- 
ized in  our  large  manufacturing  centers.  But  the 
labor  problem  is  only  part  of  our  total  social  problem ; 
it  is  fundamentally,  though  perhaps  not  immediately, 
less  vital  than  the  agricultural  problem.  The  one  may 
destroy  our  national  welfare  by  explosion:  the  other 
may  no  less  surely  destroy  it  by  erosion.  The  one 
may  shatter  the  social  fabric ;  the  other  may  undermine 
it.  In  other  words,  while  the  nation  at  large  may 
suffer  because  a  large  part  of  the  population  has  not 
enough  wages  to  live  on,  all  of  us  may  suffer  because 
we  have  not  enough  food  to  live  on.  This  may  seem 
to  borrow  trouble  from  coming  centuries,  but  the  fact 
remains  that  if  our  population  increases  at  its  present 
rate,  and  our  national  resources  decrease  at  their  pres- 
ent rate,  it  may  not  be  more  than  three  or  four  gen- 

*  Lack  of  facilities  for  recreation  and  rational  social  intercourse  is 
a  potent  factor  in  the  degeneration  of  our  rural  population,  and  particu- 
larly  in  the  "boy  and  girl"  problem  of  our  smaller  communities.  The 
white  slave  traffic  is  largely  fed  with  country  girls  who  lack  the 
opnortunity  for  wholesome  and  well-regulated  recreation  of  mind  and 
body.  The  duty  of  the  Church  in  such  communities  is  clearly  co- 
operation in  any  and  all  honest  efforts  to  provide  legitimate  amusement 
for  the  younger  generation. 

12 


erations  before  cnir  country  will  be  put  to  it  for  feed 
and  raiment.  The  conservation  and  country  life  move- 
ments owe  their  origin  to  a  perception  of  this  danger 
by  a  gifted  few,  and  their  development  to  the  educa- 
tion of  the  masses  to  the  peril. 

A  TWO-FOLD    PROGRAM    NEEDED 

These  things  being  so,  it  follows  that  we  must  have 
one  kind  of  social  service  program  for  an  agricultural 
community,  and  another  kind  for  an  industrial  con> 
munity.  The  difficulty  again  arises,  however,  that 
communities  of  the  same  type  differ  among  themselves 
One  diocesan  missionary  has  even  gone  so  far  as  to 
say  that  there  is  no  rural  problem,  because  rural  com- 
munities have  no  conditions  or  problems  in  commoix 
His  stricture,  however,  seems  due  to  a  failure  to  under- 
stand the  true  nature  of  the  agricultural  problem,  m 
outlined  above. 

The  very  fact  that,  despite  general  fidelity  to  type, 
there  are  local  variations,  only  enforces  the  need  of 
an  actual  survey  of  conditions  in  the  individual  con> 
munity,  industrial  or  agricultural,  as  a  means  of  sirp- 
plementing  a  general  program,  which  can,  after  all, 
merely  suggest  certain  lines  of  approach  to  the  prob- 
lem which  confronts  the  individual  parish.  Social 
service  by  the  parish  must,  indeed,  start  with  some  ii** 
vestigation  of  actual  conditions  and  needs.  No  pro- 
gram for  general  use  can  be  followed  slavishly.  It  is, 
in  fact,  in  the  adaptation  of  the  program  to  the  indi^ 
vidual  parish  and  community  that  it  must  find  it35 
practical  success.  The  appended  programs  for  social 
service  in  the  two  types  of  community  above  coiv 
sidered  are  therefore  offered  tentatively  as  indicating 
certain  lines  of  service  which  social  workers  are  finf 
ing  necessary.     (See  Appendices  A  and  B.) 

HOW  TO  CARRY  OUT  THE  PROGRAM:  RELATION  WITH 
OTHER  AGENCIES 

If  the  first  need  in  parochial  social  service  is  a 
program  of  work  to  be  undertaken,  the  second  and 
consequent  need  is  how  to  carry  out  the  program.  As 
indicated  above,  this  cannot  be  done  by  the  local  church 
unaided.     Co-operation  with  other  agencies  working 

13 


for  social  uplift  is  necessary,  not  only  for  the  i-ea-on 
just  mentioned,  but  also  because  in  the  nature  of  the 
case  the  church  agency  for  social  service  almost  in- 
variably lacks  the  knowledge  and  the  experience  which 
is  at  the  disposal  of  the  secular  agency,  whose  workers 
are  largely  specialists  in  their  respective  departments. 
It  may  be  that  in  a  given  community — a  small  rural 
community,  for  instance, — there  is  no  such  specialist 
outside  the  ranks  of  organized  religion  as  is  here 
assumed.  In  such  case,  the  duty  of  the  church  is  all 
the  greater.  She  must  do  what  she  can  to  supply  the 
need,  at  least  temporarily.*  But  in  most  instances  there 
is  at  least  one  organization  to  which  the  church- 
worker  may  look  for  guidance  in  his  effort  at  social 
service.  As  an  example,  take  the  case  of  two  churches 
in  the  diocese  of  Milwaukee,  both  of  which  did  pioneer 
work  in  social  service  before  the  formation  of  the 
diocesan  committee.  One  of  them  has  taken  over 
from  the  Associated  Charities  of  its  community  the 
responsibility  for  cases  of  disease  and  distress  in  its 
own  neighborhood,  and  has  supplied  visitors  and  a 
professional  district  nurse.  Another  has  maintained 
a  play-ground  in  a  congested  district.  In  both  these 
cases,  however,  the  church  could  count  on  the  experi- 
ence of  workers  trained  for  their  specific  tasks.  Again, 
Holy  Trinity  Church  in  Brooklyn  has  supplied 
"friendly  visitors"  to  the  Bureau  of  Charities  and 
"big  sisters"  to  the  Juvenile  Probation  Association, 
all  of  whom  work  under  direction  of  these  respective 
secular  agencies.  The  Bureau  and  the  Association 
are  both  desirous  of  securing  more  workers  from  the 
same  church.  Holy  Trinity  also  maintained  during  a 
part  of  the  past  summer  a  play-ground  in  co-opera- 
tion with  the  Parks  and  Playgrounds  Association. 
These  are  but  so  many  instances  of  how  the  church 
worker  and  the  secular  agency  may  co-operate  in  com- 
mon service. 

The  method,  then,  is  first  to  find  out  what  your 
community  needs  and  then  to  look  about  for  possibili- 
ties of  co-operation  with  secular  agencies  which  have 
the  experience  and  technical  knowledge,  and  which, 

•  The  "Charity  Organization  Society"  is  just  as  necessary  in  the 
smaller  as  in  the  larger  community.  The  best  social  service  the  church 
in  a  small  community  might  render  might  be  to  bring  local  agencie* 
and  agents  together  in  such  a  society. 

14 


because  often  undermanned,  will  welcome  assistance 
from  intelligent  church  members.* 

WHAT  SHALL  THE  PAROCHIAL  SOCIAL  SERVICE  AGENCY  BE? 

In  the  foregoing  discussion,  we  have  assumed  a 
parochial  social  service  organization,  without  defining 
its  nature.  Shall  it  be  a  social  service  league,  or  a 
sm.aller  committee,  or  shall  the  parish  employ  a  social 
service  secretary?  In  a  small  church  a  secretary  o£ 
the  right  kind  might  be  sufficient :  no  formal  organiza- 
tion might  be  necessary.  The  secretary,  or  lacking 
such,  the  minister  himself,  might  ascertain  the  com- 
munity needs  and  bring  his  people  to  a  knowledge  of 
them  and  a  desire  to  serve.  In  a  larger  parish,  like 
Calvary,  Pittsburgh,  both  a  secretary  and  an  organi- 
zation, with  special  committees,  may  prove  the  most 
satisfactory  method.  The  important  thing  is  to  get 
at  least  a  single  agent  awake  to  the  social  problem  as 
shown  by  local  needs,  and  eager  to  help  in  its  solution. 
The  organization  may  be  of  slower  growth.  Best  of 
all,  in  a  small  chuich,  would  be  a  committee  of  the 
whole.f 

MEANS    OF   AROUSING   INTEREST    IN   THE   PARISH 

There  are  various  ways  and  means  to  arouse  in- 
terest in  social  service.  There  is  the  social  service 
class,  meeting  regularly — on  Sunday  or  other  day — 
to  discuss  the  social  problem  in  general  and  with 
special  reference  to  community  needs.  There  is  the 
conference  on  social  topics  for  more  popular  appeal: 
it  may  be  held  at  the  close  of  the  Sunday  evening 
service,  and  be  open  to  all  who  are  interested,  whether 
they  desire  to  attend  the  service  or  not.     The  con- 

*  It  should  be  distinctly  understood  that  the  presence  of  such 
"secular"  aRencies  in  a  given  community  is  an  opportunity  for  social 
service  by  the  local  church  or  churches,  and  not  an  excuse  from  such 
service.  The  parish  must  do  its  share  of  the  work,  but  it  can  do  it 
most  effectively  through  co-oneration  with  other  asencies.  Vide  the 
chapter  on  "The  Religious  Treatment  of  Poverty,  in  Dr.  Devine's 
"Pnirit  of  Social  Work"  (Charities  Publication  Committee,  New  York, 
1911). 

t  It  is  exactly  this  "committee  of  the  whole"  at  which  the  minister 
and  his  helpers  should  aim,  whether  the  parish  be  large  or  small.  The 
employment  of  a  social  service  secretary  or  the  organization  of  a  social 
service  league  should  not  be  an  excuse  from,  but  an  incentive  to, 
individual  service  on  the  part  of  every  member  of  the  parish.  The 
parish  secretary  and  the  parish  league  should  be  only  some  among 
many  workers. 

15 


ference  thus  serves  as  a  community  forum,  where 
specialists  invited  from  outside  may  present  various 
phases  of  the  social  problem,  and  an  opportunity  may 
be  given  for  informal  discussion.  A  parish  social 
service  library  is  also  desirable — a  small  but  carefully 
selected  lot  of  books  of  interest  to  the  Christian  citizen, 
who  may  not  own  them  or  be  able  to  get  them  from 
a  community  library.  Visits  to  various  social  insti- 
tutions and  schools  may  also  serve  to  arouse  interest 
and  give  valuable  information.* 

But  the  chief  desideratum  is  to  find  a  specific  task 
for  each  member  of  the  parish  who  is  competent  and 
willing.  By  bringing  him — or  her — into  actual  contact 
with  social  conditions  in  the  community  the  parish 
church  will  perform  the  double  service  of  rendering 
aid  where  needed  and  of  educating  its  constituency. 
The  danger  to  be  guarded  against  is  that  of  stopping 
with  the  particular  case — the  concrete  instance — and 
not  passing  on  to  some  constructive  effort  to  better 
conditions  in  general.  Not  merely  to  succor  the  fallen 
wayfarer,  but  to  clear  the  road  is  the  necessity.  In 
this  constructive  effort  is  the  opportunity  for  a  com- 
munity forward  movement  which  shall  combine  all 
agencies,  secular  and  religious,  in  a  common  campaign 
to  improve  local  conditions  of  life  and  work,  and  so 
help  to  make  possible  the  all-round  development,  phys- 
ical, mental,  spiritual,  which  should  be  the  right  of 
every  man,  woman  and  child  in  the  community.  Such 
a  community  forward  movement  as  the  result  of  the 
effort  of  the  individual  parish  or  parishes  is  a  con- 
summation devoutly  to  be  wished. 

RELATION  OF  SOCIAL  SERVICE  TO  GOVERNMENT 

It  goes  without  saying  that  much  of  what  we  call 
social  service  ought  not  to  be  necessary.  It  may  seem 
a  derogation  from  the  spiritual  mission  of  the  church 
to  engage  in  the  efforts  to  insure  the  justice,  the 
better  conditions  of  life  and  work,  the  wide  oppor- 
tunity for  individual  and  social  development,  which 
it  is  the  desire  of  voluntary  social  agencies  to  bring 
about.    But  until  actual  provision  is  made  by  the  state 

•  The  need  and  opportunity  for  social  service  instruction  in  the 
Sunday  school  is  a  matter  of  vital  importance,  and  may  be  made  the 
subject  of  a  special  pamphlet. 

16 


or  other  agencies  for  the  prevention  of  the  evils  and 
the  meeting  of  the  needs  which  are  helping  to  produce 
the  social  unrest  of  our  day,  the  church  must  stand 
by  the  work,  just  as  in  former  ages  she  stood  by  the 
almsgiving  and  the  ministration  to  individuals,  which 
have  resulted  in  so  many  functions  of  our  present  gov- 
ernment— hospitals,  alms-houses,  schools  and  the  like. 
When  government  or  other  agencies  shall  have 
assumed  the  new  obligations  which  new  social  and 
economic  conditions  are  forcing  on  us,  then  the  church 
may  relinquish  her  share  ii^  the  work  and  press  on  to 
some  other  worthy  task.  But  service  of  some  sort 
must  always  be  a  part  of  her  divine  mission,  whether 
that  service  be  individual  or  social,  whether  it  be  the 
service  demanded  by  conditions  or  problems  past, 
present  or  future.  Herein  is  the  summons  to  social 
service  on  the  part  of  the  individual  parish,  without 
whose  support  the  efforts  of  diocesan  or  national  social 
service  agencies  must,  as  indicated  at  the  outset,  be 
largely  futile. 


17 


APPENDIX   A 

A  SOCIAL  SERVICE  PROGRAM  FOR  A  PARISH  IN  AN 
INDUSTRIAL  COMMUNITY 

L    Investigation  of  Local  Conditions* 

1.  Topography.    Situation  and  area  of  the  community ;  dis- 

tance   from    other    communities ;    physical    character- 
I  istics — rivers,    lakes,   hills;    means   of   communication 

I  and   transportation — telephones,    automobiles,    trolley- 

;  cars,  etc. 

Has  there  been  any  attempt  to  formulate  and  carry 
out  a  "city  plan"  which  shall  make  adequate  provision 
for  factory-sites,  civic  and  social  centers,  boulevards 
and  promenades,  parks  and  playgrounds,  school-sites, 
transportation  lines,  proper  housing  areas,  etc.?  If 
not,  why  not?  Cannot  something  be  done  in  this 
direction  ? 

2.  Population.    Composition :  proportion  of  natives  to  aliens, 

of  wage-workers  to  employers,  to  professional  work- 
ers, to  idlers. 

Is  there  a  spirit  of  co-operation  or  of  class-con- 
sciousness? Lawlessness?  Frequent  strikes  and  lock- 
outs?    Disposition   to  arbitrate    industrial   disputes  ?t 

How  can  your  parish  promote  a  spirit  of  good  will 
in  common  service? 

3.  Industries    Ccf.   2,  supra).     Character:    dangerous,   con- 

fining, monotonous?  Conditions  of  employment:  san- 
itary shops,  comfort  and  safety  devices,  fire  protec- 
tion, etc.?  Hours  of  employment:  for  men,  for 
women,  for  children?  Proportion  of  women  em- 
ployees? of  child  employees?  Rate  of  wages:  ade- 
quate to  the  community's  standard  of  living? 

What  has  been  done  in  general  to  improve  working 
conditions?  What  might  be  done?  How  can  your 
parish  help? 

4.  Living  Conditions.    Housing:  tenements,  "model"  homes 

for  working  people,  etc.  ?  Recreation  and  amuse- 
ment :  parks  and  playgrounds,  theatres  and  mov- 
ing-picture shows,  dance-halls  and  saloons,  athletic 
clubs,  etc.?  Transportation:  distance  of  homes  from 
factories,  overcrowding  of  cars,  rate  of  fares,  etc.? 

What  has  been  done — what  can  your  parish  do — to 
improve  living  conditions? 

•In  the  case  of  most  industrial  communities  tlie  field  of  investigation 
may  be  too  large  to  be  looked  after  by  the  individual  parish  unaided. 
In  such  case  the  parish  may  join  forces  with  other  local  betterment 
agencies.  In  many  instances  data  may  be  ob'^ained  from  civic  and 
philanthropic  organizations,  which  may  be  supplemented  by  investiga- 
tion of  some  special  field  or  need.  At  any  rate,  the  individual  parish 
should  at  least  know  conditions  of  life  and  work  among  its  own  con- 
stituents. 

The  questions  under  the  various  headings  in  the  above  outline  are 
intended    to    be    merely    suggestive,    not    comprehensive.      The    program, 

18 


APPENDIX   B 

A  SOCIAL  SERVICE  PROGRAM  FOR  A  PARISH  IN  AN 
AGRICULTURAL    COMMUNITY 

I.    Investigation  of  Local  Conditions 

1.  Topography.    Situation  and  area  of  the  community;  dis- 

tance from  adjacent  communities ;  physical  character- 
istics— rivers,  lakes,  hills,  forests,  pasture  and  farm 
lands;  means  of  communication  and  transportation; 
rural  free  delivery,  telephone,  automobiles,  trolley- 
cars,  railroads,  etc. :  size  of  farms. 

What  has  been  done  in  the  viray  of  a  community 
plan?  (Cf.  the  Program  for  an  Industrial  Commu- 
nity, Appendix  A.) 

2.  Population.      Composition :    proportion    of    natives    to 

aliens,  of  farm-owners  and  practicing  farmers  to 
farm-hands,  to  professional  workers,  to  idlers,  etc. 

Is  there  a  spirit  of  co-operation  or  of  independence 
among  the  farmers?  Are  they  on  good  terms  with 
the  professional  workers?  Is  the  farming  population 
progressive  or  not?  prosperous  or  "just  making  a 
living"? 

3.  Agriculture.     Prevailing  kinds?  specialties?     How  car- 

ried on:  new  methods  and  implements?  farmers'  co- 
operative societies  for  buying  supplies  and  for  selling 
products  (creameries,  cheese-factories,  meat-packing 
agencies,  etc.)  ?  General  progress  or  decline?  aban- 
doned farms? 

4.  Living  Conditions.    Proportion  of  good  homes?  Sanitary 

improvements,  comfort  devices,  public  sewers,  etc.? 
Devices  for  lightening  the  housekeeper's  drudgery? 
Living  conditions  among  farm-hands?    Recreation? 


in    short,    as    indicated    in    the    text    (page    13),    should    be    modified    as 
necessary   in   the    light   of   actual    community   conditions   and    needs. 

Further,  it  is  not  intended  that  everything  should  be  undertaken  at 
once.  This  program  is  offered  in  the  hope  that  individual  parishes 
may  awake  to  the  problems  which  confront  their  communities  and 
may  put  their  members  to  work.  If  the  parish  will  merely  try  to  meet 
some  simple  and  evident  need  of  the  community  of  which  it  forms  a 
part,  it  will  gradually  find  a  way  to  more  comprehensive  service.  That 
simple  need,  however,  to  be  met  effectively,  must  be  met  intelligently 
on  the  basis  of  knowledge  of  local  conditions  and  opportunities  for 
service. 

t  The  opportunity  for  the  local  churches  to  mediate  in  industrial 
disputes,  especially  in  the  smaller  communities,  is  worthy  of  serious 
attention. 

19 


APPENDIX   A 

5.  Public  Health  (cf.  3  and  4,  supra).     Prevalent  diseases 

and  percentage  of  illness  ?  Hospitals  :  numerous,  well- 
equipped,  well-conducted?  Board  of  health  efficient? 
Number  of  reputable  physicians?  of  quacks?  Com- 
fort stations?  (cf.  saloons).  Number  of  industrial 
diseases  and  accidents:  preventable,  unpreventable? 
What  can  be  done? 

6.  Education.      Schools :    numerous,    up-to-date    in    equip- 

ment and  management,  adequate  to  community  needs? 
Technical,  commercial  and  professional  schools  and 
colleges?  Lecture  courses,  public  libraries,  concerts, 
drama? 

What  has  been  done  in  the  way  of  wider  use  of 
the  school  plant — i.  e.,  as  a  social  and  recreational 
center?  for  night  courses,  etc.?  Does  education  given 
in  your  community  really  seem  to  fit  pupils  for  actual 
life,  or  is  it  ultra-academic? 

What  can  you  do? 

7.  Chic  Administratiion.     Competent  and  honest  officials? 

notorious  corruption  and  malfeasance?     Administra^ 
tive  departments  adequate  to  community  needs?    Pro 
gressive  spirit?     Relation  with  voluntary  agencies  for 
social  uplift? 
How  can  you  help? 

8.  Vice,  Crime,  Intemperance.     Houses  of  ill   fame :   pro- 

tected corrupt    officials?    officially    inspected    and 

regulated.'*  Prevalence  of  white  slave  traffic?  Vice 
in  tenements?  Prevalence  of  crime  and  proportion  of 
juvenile  delinquency?  Prison  conditions  and  meth- 
ods? Probation  work  and  children's  courts:  "big 
brothers"  and  "big  sisters"?  Number  and  character 
of  saloons  and  disreputable  hotels?  Excise  laws  and 
police  enforcement?  Decent  clubs  for  workingmen 
and  women? 
What  can  be  done? 

9.  Moral  and  Spiritual  Forces.     Number  of  churches?  of 

social  service  agencies?  Progressive  spirit  in  the 
churches?  Efficient  Sunday  schools?  Men's  clubs? 
Women's  clubs?  "Boy  Scouts"?  etc. 
10.  The  Chief  Need  or  Needs  of  the  Community.  In  the 
light  of  the  above  investigation,  w^at  should  you  say 
is  the  chief  need  of  your  commuv..ty?  Do  you  see 
any  way  to  meet  the  need? 

II.    Relation  Between  the  Community  Need  and  Remedial 
Agencies 
1.     Forces  Engaged  in  Community  Uplift.    Associated  Char- 
ities?     Probation    Association?      Tuberculosis    Corn- 
agencies  beside  the  constable  for  dealing  with  these 
problems?    Are  there  any  voluntary  agencies  at  work? 

20 


ERRATA 

Appendix  A,  II,  1   (bottom  of  page  20)   should  read  thus: 
1.     Forces  Engaged  in  Community  Uplift.    Associated  Char- 
ities?     Probation     Association?     Tuberculosis     Com- 
mittee?     Housing    Reform    Committ^-  "      Arbitration 
Boards    for    the    settlement    of    indnsirial    disputes? 
Community   Forward   Movement?   etc. 
Appendix  B,  I.  8   (middle  of  page  21)   should  read  thus: 
8.     Vice,   Crime,  Intemperance.     Are   there   any   recognized 
agencies  beside   the  constable   for  dealing  with  these 
problems?    Are  there  any  voluntary  agencies  at  work? 
If   not,    is   there   not   need   for   them?     What   special 
needs?     How  many  "hotels,"  and  how  reputable? 


APPENDIX   B 

Public  Health.  Prevalent  diseases  (typhoid,  malaria, 
rheumatism,  hookworm,  pellagra)  and  percentage  of 
illness?  Are  there  any  hospitals  or  pest-houses  or 
health  officers?  Accidents  due  to  agricultural  ma- 
chinery and  the  natural  risks  of  farming? 


Education.  Rural  and  agricultural  schools?  University 
extension  courses,  the  Grange,  farmers'  institutes, 
"model"  farms  and  experiment  stations,  concertS;^ 
moving-pictures,  newspapers  and  magazines,  bulletins 
of  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  etc.? 

Is  any  effort  being  made  to  fit  the  education  to  the 
actual  needs  of  the  community — to  train  boys  and 
girls  for  usefulness  on  the  farm  and  in  the  home,  with 
a  view  to  keeping  them  on  the  farm,  rather  than, 
encouraging  them  to  go  to  the  city  to  find  their  op- 
portunit}'-?  Is  agriculture  being  taught  not  only  as  a 
livelihood  but  as  a  vocation  and  a  national  duty? 


7.  Community  Administration.  Is  there  any  recognized 
administration?  Is  the  town-meeting  awake  to  its 
opportunities  for  social  service? 


8.     Vice,  Crime,  Intemperance.     Are  there  any  recognized 
mittee?     Housing   Reform   Committee?     Arbitration 
Boards    for    the    settlement    of    industrial    disputes? 
-  Community  Forward  Movement  ?  etc. 


Moral  and  Spiritual  Influences  {good  and  had).  Num- 
ber of  churches  and  church  members?  interdenomina- 
tional rivalry?  union  church  or  union  services?  Pro- 
gressive spirit  in  the  local  churches?  Efficient  Sun- 
day schools?  Local  Y.  M.  C.  A.?  School  buildings 
as  social  centers?  Number  of  saloons?  Local  op- 
tion? Dance-halls  and  moving-picture  shows? 
"Gangs"  ? 


10.    The  Chief  Need  or  Needs  of  the  Community,  in  view  of 
the  above 


II.    Relation   Between  the   Community  Need  and  Local 
Remedial  Agencies 

1.  Forces  Engaged  in  Community  Uplift.     Are  there  any? 

2.  Success  of  Such  Forces,  if  Any.    Needing  funds,  work- 

ers, program? 

21 


APPENDIX   A 

If  not,  is  there  not  need  for  them?  What  special 
needs?    How  many  "hotels,"  and  how  reputable? 

2.  Success  of  Such  Forces.  Perfunctory  or  really  efficient 
service?  Needing  funds  or  workers?  Lacking  a  con- 
structive program? 

III.  Relation   Between  Local  Agencies  and  the  Parish 

Agency 
L    Hozv  has  your  parish  co-operated  in  community  serv- 
ice f^    In  what  special  field  of  effort?    With  what  or- 
ganizations?   With  what  success? 

2.  If  you  have  not  yet  co-operated  in  social  ivork,  how 

can  you?     In  what  field?   With  what  agencies? 

3.  Can  your  parish  assume  leadership  in  any  needed  work 

which  is  not  being  done? 

IV.  Attitude  and  Education  of  Parishioners* 

1.  Are    your    people    favorably    disposed    toward    social 

service?  If  so,  how  can  you  utilize  their  services? 
As  volunteer  workers  under  direction  of  secular  agen- 
cies in  your  community?  Collectively,  through  a  so- 
cial service  league  or  committee? 

2.  //  they  are  not  favorably  disposed,  how  can  you  win 

them  over?  By  persuation?  By  education — through  a 
social  service  class,  through  conferences  on  social 
topics,  through  visits  to  actual  institutions  or  dis- 
tricts that  need  help,  through  reading  courses,  etc.? 

V.  Kinds  of  Social  Service  in  Which  an  Industrial  Com- 

munity Should  Be  Engaged  (cf.  I.,  supra.    The  fol- 
lowing lines  of  effort  are  stated  by  way  of  summary 
and  for  the  purpose  of  concreteness.) 

1.  City-planning 

2.  Housing  reform 

3.  Provision  of  recreation  facilities 

4.  Educational  reform 

5.  Improvement  and  cheapening  of  transportation 

6.  Suppression  of  vice,  crime  and  intemperance 

7.  Prevention    of   industrial   diseases   and  accidents,   and 

compensation  therefor 

8.  Abolition  of  child  labor 

9.  Regulation  of  woman  labor 

10.     Promotion  of  efficiency  of  civic  administration 

*  An  opoortunity  not  to  be  neglected  by  the  minister  in  this  connec- 
tion is  that  of  supporting,  and  inducing  his  people  to  support,  rnen — 
and  women — of  the  community  who  may  have  become  unpopular  simnly 
because  thev  are  striking  at  local  abuses  and  special  "interests."  On 
the  other  hand,   the  minister   may  need  such  support  himself  1 


22 


APPENDIX    B 


III.  Relation  Between  Local  Agencies  and  the  Parish 
Agency.  (Cf.  the  Program  for  an  Industrial  Cwn- 
munity,  Appendix  A.) 


IV.    Attitude  and  Education  of   Parishioners.      (Cf.  the 
Program  for  an  Industrial  Community,  Appendix  A.) 


'.  Kinds  of  Social  Service  in  Which  an  Agricultural 
Community  Should  Be  Engaged  (by  way  of  sum- 
mary) 

1.  Improvement  of  agricultural  theory  and  practice 

2.  Improvement   of  means    of   communication  and   trans- 

portation 

3.  Improvement   of   livivig    conditions,     especially    among 

farm-hands 

4.  Reconstruction  of   rural  education   for  the  purpose  of 

holding  farm-children  to  the  farm 

5.  Revival  of  the  rural  church  in  relation  to  the  special 

needs  of  a  farming  population 


23 


